A Mini Lit Review and Mini Research Proposal: Gamification

Part 1

Question 1

Theme 1: Gamification Design

• Gaming features that are often used as part of gamifying a class are points and leaderboards. (Christy & Fox, 2014).
• Using some of the motivating aspects of gaming in nongame systems and designing a system using flow theory to get as much enjoyment as possible from specific experiences (Deterding, 2015).
• Create a system of gamification, that included specific design features, important mechanics of a learning game, the ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) educational design model and a gaming framework the includes mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics (MAD), education can be more effective (Jung Tae & Won-Hyung, 2013).
• By using a series of gamified learning activities that are based on a mobile gamification learning system and incorporating the ARCS framework, learning was influenced in a positive way (Su & Cheng, 2015).

Theme 2: Incentives and Motivation and how they effect Gamification

• The processes of reward learning and motivation exist simultaneously as psychological processes. (Berridge, 2000).
• When using an incentive program it is important to not offer too large of an incentive as this could have a negative effect on desired outcomes (Korman, Glickman, & Frey, 1981).
• A reward that associates a positive meaning with a specific behavior can cause that behavior to become a habit (Rani & Lenka, 2012).

Theme 3: Implementation of Gamification

• Implementing a gamified system in a university course, revealed six dimensions that had an impact and would benefit from further study (de Byl, 2013).
• Using a plugin to gamify an e-learning platform for a university course combined with collecting qualitative and quantitative data suggest that there are mixed results (Dominguez et al., 2013).
• Gamifying content by adding badges, power ups, awards and levels and combining this with effective pedagogy can help student learn skill that will be important in their future (Kingsley & Grabner-Hagen, 2015).

Question 2

Working Definitions

Gamification

• Incorporating game-like mechanics such as leaderboards, level-ups, badges and quests (assignments) into a classroom setting (Kingsley & Grabner-Hagen, 2015)

End of instruction exams

• Exams given toward the end of the instructional year in grades 3-8 and in specific courses in high school, in Oklahoma this is typically from late March through mid-April.

Traditional Classroom

• A classroom where the teachers primarily uses lecture and some activities as the primary sources of instruction.

Curriculum

• “is the study of any and all educational phenomena” (Egan, 1978, p. 71), for this study, it is what the teachers will be teaching during the school year.

Question 3

Additional Questions

• Defining the specific aspects of gamification that have had the most/least impact on a learning environment.
• Define the minimum/maximum number of gaming components to successfully gamify a class.
• Find more information on reward systems, the benefits of rewards and the negative impacts of rewards.
• Understanding the psychology of gaming and why people play games.
• Understanding the foundational pieces that make a game successful.

Part 2

Writing the Problem Statement

Gamification is the process of applying gaming mechanics in non-game contexts and has gained popularity across a several different industries and has the potential to have a significant impact in education (Attali & Arieli-Attali, 2015). The purpose of the gaming mechanics is to increase motivation or reward people for performing a specific task (Rani & Lenka, 2012). Using gamification in an educational setting can have positive outcomes (de Byl, 2013) and can increase student engagement (Kingsley & Grabner-Hagen, 2015). Studies have also shown that the use of gamification can produce results that were not as favorable as those shown by a control group (Hanus & Fox, 2015). Looking at these two studies indicates that there is more research that needs to be done on gamification, including what aspects of gamification have the strongest impact on student learning and retention.

Question 2

The purpose of this study is to investigate what mechanics of gamification will help students retain information quicker and give the students the ability to retain that information longer. By moving through a course curriculum at a faster pace and internalizing the learning more meaningfully, the student should perform better on end of instruction exams.
References

Attali, Y., & Arieli-Attali, M. (2015). Gamification in assessment: Do points affect test performance? Computers & Education, 83, 57-63. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2014.12.012

Berridge, K. C. (2000). Reward learning: Reinforcement, incentives, and expectations. Psychology of learning and motivation, 40, 223-278. doi: doi:10.1016/S0079-7421(00)80022-5

Christy, K. R., & Fox, J. (2014). Leaderboards in a virtual classroom: A test of stereotype threat and social comparison explanations for women’s math performance. Computers & Education, 78, 66-77. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2014.05.005

de Byl, P. (2013). Factors at play in tertiary curriculum gamification. International Journal of Game-Based Learning, 3(2), 1-21. doi: 10.1007/ BF02310555 doi:10.5861/ ijrse.2012.v1i1.19 http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijgbl.2013040101

Deterding, S. (2015). The lens of intrinsic skill atoms: A method for gameful design. Human – Computer Interaction, 30(3-4), 294. doi: 10.1080/07370024.2014.993471

Dominguez, A., Saenz-de-Navarrete, J., de-Marcos, L., Fernandez-Sanz, L., Pages, C., & Martinez-Herraiz, J.-J. (2013). Gamifying Learning Experiences: Practical Implications and Outcomes. Computers & Education, 63, 380-392. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.12.020

Egan, K. (1978). What Is Curriculum? Curriculum Inquiry, 8(1), 65-72. doi: 10.2307/1179791

Hanus, M. D., & Fox, J. (2015). Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation, social comparison, satisfaction, effort, and academic performance. Computers & Education, 80, 152-161. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2014.08.019

Jung Tae, K., & Won-Hyung, L. (2013). Dynamical model and simulations for gamification of learning. International Journal of Multimedia & Ubiquitous Engineering, 8(4), 179-189.

Kingsley, T. L., & Grabner-Hagen, M. M. (2015). Gamification: Questing to Integrate Content Knowledge, Literacy, and 21st-Century Learning. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(1), 51. doi: 10.1002/jaal.426

Korman, A. K., Glickman, A. S., & Frey, R. L. (1981). More Is Not Better – 2 Failures of Incentive Theory. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66(2), 255-259. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.66.2.255

Rani, R., & Lenka, S. K. (2012). Motivation and Work Motivation: Concepts, Theories, and Researches. International Journal of Research in IT & Management, 2(8), 14-22.

Su, C. H., & Cheng, C. H. (2015). A mobile gamification learning system for improving the learning motivation and achievements. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 31(3), 268-286. doi: 10.1111/jcal.12088